Zoho books CLI for AI Agents

Trusted by
AWS
Glean
Zoom
Airtable

30 min · no commitment · see it on your stack

Zoho books logo
CLI logo
divider

Introduction

CLIs are eating MCPs. The industry is converging on the very same idea. MCPs for all their merit can be token hungry, slow, and unreliable for complex tool chaining. However, coding agents have become incredibly good at working with CLIs, and in fact they are far more comfortable working with CLI tools than MCP.

With Composio's Universal CLI, your coding agents can talk to over 1000+ SaaS applications. With Zoho books, agents can list unpaid invoices for this month, create a new expense entry today, send payment reminder to a client, and more — all without worrying about authentication.

This guide walks you through Composio Universal CLI and explains how you can connect it with coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc, for end-to-end Zoho books automation.

Also integrate Zoho books with

What is Universal CLI and why use it?

The idea behind building the universal CLI is to give agents a single command interface to interact with all your external applications. Here's what you'll get with it:

  • Agent-friendly: Coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode can use CLI tools natively — no MCP setup required.
  • Authentication handled: Connect once via OAuth or API Key, and all CLI commands work with your credentials automatically.
  • Tool discovery: Search, inspect, and execute 20,000+ tools across 1000+ apps from one interface.
  • Trigger support: Use triggers to listen for events across your apps, powered by real-time webhooks or polling under the hood.
  • Type generation: Generate typed schemas for autocomplete and type safety in your projects.

Prerequisites

Install the Composio CLI, authenticate, and initialize your project:

bash
# Install the Composio CLI
curl -fsSL https://composio.dev/install | bash

# Authenticate with Composio
composio login

During login you'll be redirected to sign in page, finish the complete flow and you're all set.

Composio CLI authentication flow

Connecting Zoho books to Coding Agents via Universal CLI

Once it is installed, it's essentially done. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, or any other agent will be able to access the CLI. A few steps to give agents access to your apps.

  1. Launch your Coding Agent — Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, anything you prefer.
  2. Prompt it to "Authenticate with Zoho books"
  3. Complete the authentication and authorization flow and your Zoho books integration is all set.
  4. Start asking anything you want.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Accept EstimateTool to mark an estimate as accepted.
Activate Bank AccountTool to activate a bank account.
Add Bill AttachmentTool to add an attachment to an existing bill in Zoho Books.
Add Bill CommentTool to add a comment to a bill in Zoho Books.
Add Contact AddressTool to add an additional address to a contact in Zoho Books.
Add Invoice CommentTool to add a comment to an invoice.
Add Project CommentTool to add a comment to a project.
Add Purchase Order CommentTool to add a comment to a purchase order in Zoho Books.
Add Sales Order CommentTool to add a comment to a sales order in Zoho Books.
Add Vendor Credit CommentTool to add a comment to a vendor credit.
Apply Credit Note to InvoiceTool to apply a credit note to one or more invoices in Zoho Books.
Apply Credits to BillTool to apply vendor credits to a bill in Zoho Books.
Apply Credits to InvoiceTool to apply credit notes to an invoice in Zoho Books.
Bulk Export Invoices PDFTool to export multiple invoices to a single PDF.
Bulk Print InvoicesTool to bulk print up to 25 invoices as a single PDF.
Categorize As Customer Payment RefundTool to categorize an uncategorized bank transaction as a customer payment refund.
Categorize Uncategorized TransactionTool to categorize an uncategorized bank transaction.
Clone ProjectTool to clone an existing project.
Convert Purchase Order To BillTool to retrieve bill data from purchase orders for conversion.
Create Bank AccountTool to create a bank or credit card account.
Create Bank TransactionTool to create a manual bank transaction.
Create Chart Of AccountTool to create a new chart of account in Zoho Books.
Create ContactTool to create a new contact in Zoho Books.
Create Contact PersonTool to create a new contact person for an existing contact in Zoho Books.
Create CurrencyTool to create a new currency for an organization.
Create Customer Payment RefundTool to refund an excess customer payment.
Create EmployeeTool to create a new employee in Zoho Books.
Create Exchange RateTool to create a new exchange rate for a currency.
Create ExpenseTool to create a new expense in Zoho Books.
Create Invoice From Sales OrderTool to create an instant invoice from an existing sales order.
Create ItemTool to create a new item (product or service).
Create JournalTool to create a journal entry in Zoho Books.
Create LocationTool to create a new location in Zoho Books.
Create ProjectTool to create a project in Zoho Books.
Create Recurring BillTool to create a recurring bill in Zoho Books.
Create Recurring ExpenseTool to create a new recurring expense in Zoho Books.
Create Recurring InvoiceTool to create a recurring invoice.
Create Reporting TagTool to create a new reporting tag in Zoho Books.
Create Bank Account RuleTool to create a rule for automatic transaction categorization.
Create Sales ReceiptTool to create a sales receipt in Zoho Books.
Create Time EntryTool to create a new time entry for a project task.
Create UserTool to create a new user in Zoho Books.
Create Vendor CreditTool to create a vendor credit in Zoho Books.
Create Vendor PaymentTool to create a vendor payment in Zoho Books.
Deactivate Bank AccountTool to deactivate a bank account.
Delete Bank AccountTool to delete a bank account from your organization.
Delete Bank TransactionTool to delete a specific bank transaction.
Delete BillTool to delete a specific bill.
Delete Bill AttachmentTool to delete an attachment from a specific bill.
Delete Bill CommentTool to delete a comment from a bill.
Delete Bill PaymentTool to delete a specific bill payment.
Delete Bulk Customer PaymentsTool to bulk delete multiple customer payments.
Delete Bulk Vendor PaymentsTool to bulk delete multiple vendor payments.
Delete Chart of AccountTool to delete a specific chart of account.
Delete Chart Of Account TransactionTool to delete a chart of account transaction.
Delete ContactTool to delete a specific contact.
Delete Contact AddressTool to delete an additional address from a contact.
Delete Contact PersonTool to delete a specific contact person.
Delete Credit NoteTool to delete a specific credit note.
Delete Credit Note CommentTool to delete a comment from a credit note.
Delete Credit Note RefundTool to delete a specific credit note refund.
Delete CurrencyTool to delete a specific currency from organization settings.
Delete Customer PaymentTool to delete a customer payment.
Delete Customer Payment RefundTool to delete a specific customer payment refund.
Delete EmployeeTool to delete a specific employee.
Delete EstimateTool to delete a specific estimate.
Delete Exchange RateTool to delete an exchange rate for a currency.
Delete ExpenseTool to delete a specific expense.
Delete Expense ReceiptTool to delete a receipt from an expense.
Delete InvoiceTool to delete a specific invoice.
Delete Invoice AttachmentTool to delete the last attached attachment from an invoice.
Delete Invoice CommentTool to delete a comment from an invoice.
Delete Invoice DocumentTool to delete a document/attachment from a specific invoice.
Delete Invoice PaymentTool to delete a payment applied to an invoice.
Delete ItemTool to delete a specific item.
Delete Journal Comment V4Tool to delete a journal comment using Zoho Books API v4 (Beta).
Delete Journal DocumentTool to delete a document/attachment from a journal entry.
Delete JournalsTool to delete multiple journal entries in one request.
Delete Journal (v4 Beta)Tool to delete a journal using the v4 Beta API.
Delete LocationTool to delete a specific location.
Delete Project Comment (v4 Beta)Tool to delete a project comment using v4 Beta API.
Delete Project TaskTool to delete a project task.
Delete Project V4Tool to delete a specific project using v4 Beta API.
Delete Purchase OrderTool to delete a specific purchase order.
Delete Purchase Order AttachmentTool to delete an attachment from a purchase order.
Delete Purchase Order CommentTool to delete a comment from a purchase order.
Delete Recurring BillTool to delete a recurring bill.
Delete Recurring InvoiceTool to delete a recurring invoice.
Delete Bank Account RuleTool to delete a bank account rule from your account.
Delete Sales Order CommentTool to delete a comment from a sales order.
Delete Sales ReceiptTool to delete a specific sales receipt.
Delete Time EntryTool to delete a specific time entry from a project.
Delete Vendor CreditTool to delete a specific vendor credit.
Delete Vendor Credit RefundTool to delete a vendor credit refund.
Delete Vendor PaymentTool to delete a vendor payment.
Disable Contact Payment ReminderTool to disable payment reminders for a contact.
Disable Invoice Payment ReminderTool to disable payment reminders for an invoice.
Email Contact StatementTool to email a statement to a contact.
Email EstimateTool to send an estimate email.
Email InvoiceTool to send an invoice email.
Enable Contact Payment ReminderTool to enable payment reminders for a contact.
Enable Contact PortalTool to enable portal access for a contact.
Enable Invoice Payment ReminderTool to enable payment reminders for an invoice.
Exclude Bank TransactionTool to exclude an uncategorized bank transaction.
Bulk Export Estimates PDFTool to export multiple estimates to a single PDF.
Bulk Export Sales Orders PDFTool to export multiple sales orders to a single PDF.
Get All Tag OptionsTool to retrieve all options for a reporting tag.
Get Bank AccountTool to fetch details of a specific bank account.
Get Base Currency AdjustmentTool to fetch details of a specific base currency adjustment.
Get BillTool to fetch details of a specific bill.
Get Bill AttachmentTool to fetch an attachment from a specific bill.
Get Chart Of AccountTool to fetch details of a specific chart of account.
Get ContactTool to fetch details of a specific contact.
Get Contact AddressTool to retrieve all addresses associated with a contact.
Get Contact PersonTool to retrieve details of a specific contact person.
Get Contact Statement MailTool to retrieve the pre-populated email content for a contact statement.
Get Credit NoteTool to fetch details of a specific credit note by ID.
Get CurrencyTool to retrieve details of a specific currency.
Get EstimateTool to fetch details of a specific estimate.
Get Estimate EmailTool to retrieve the pre-populated email content for an estimate.
Get ExpenseTool to fetch details of a specific expense.
Get InvoiceTool to fetch details of a specific invoice.
Get Invoice AttachmentTool to fetch the last attached attachment from a specific invoice.
Get Invoice EmailTool to retrieve the pre-populated email content for an invoice.
Get ItemTool to fetch details of a specific item.
Get Journal Credits List (v4 Beta)Tool to retrieve the list of available journal credits for a specific journal using v4 Beta API.
Get Journal Details V4Tool to fetch details of a specific journal entry from Zoho Books API v4 (Beta).
Get Journals List (v4 Beta)Tool to retrieve a paginated list of journals using Zoho Books v4 Beta API.
Get Last Imported StatementTool to get details of previously imported statement for a bank account.
Get Matching Bank TransactionsTool to retrieve potential matching transactions for an uncategorized bank transaction.
Get Opening BalanceTool to retrieve opening balance for an organization.
Get OrganizationTool to fetch details of a specific organization.
Get Payment Reminder Mail ContentTool to retrieve the pre-populated payment reminder email content for an invoice.
Get ProjectTool to fetch details of a specific project.
Get Project UserTool to fetch details of a specific user associated with a project.
Get Purchase OrderTool to fetch details of a specific purchase order.
Get Recurring InvoiceTool to retrieve a single recurring invoice profile's full configuration by ID.
Get Sales OrderTool to fetch details of a specific sales order.
Get Sales Order AttachmentTool to fetch an attachment from a specific sales order.
Get Sales Order Email ContentTool to retrieve the pre-populated email content for a sales order.
Get UserTool to fetch details of a specific user.
Get Vendor Credit RefundTool to fetch details of a specific vendor credit refund.
Import Bank StatementsTool to import bank or credit card statement transactions in bulk.
List Bank AccountsTool to list bank and credit card accounts.
List Bank RulesTool to list all rules created for a bank or credit card account.
List Bank TransactionsTool to list bank transactions with optional filters.
List Base Currency AdjustmentsTool to list base currency adjustments for an organization.
List Bill Comments and HistoryTool to list comments and history entries for a bill.
List Bill PaymentsTool to list payments recorded against a bill.
List BillsTool to retrieve a paginated list of bills.
List Chart Of AccountsTool to list chart of accounts.
List Chart of Account TransactionsTool to list transactions for a specific chart of account.
List Contact CommentsTool to retrieve recent activities and comments for a specific contact.
List Contact PersonsTool to retrieve a paginated list of contact persons from Zoho Books.
List Contact RefundsTool to list refunds for a contact.
List ContactsTool to retrieve a paginated list of contacts with optional filters.
List Credit Note RefundsTool to retrieve a paginated list of credit note refunds with filters.
List Credit NotesTool to retrieve a paginated list of credit notes with optional filters.
List CurrenciesTool to list currencies configured for the organization.
List Customer Payment RefundsTool to list refunds of a customer payment.
List Customer PaymentsTool to list customer payments in Zoho Books.
List EmployeesTool to retrieve a paginated list of employees.
List Estimate Comments & HistoryTool to retrieve comments and history for a specific estimate.
List EstimatesTool to retrieve a paginated list of estimates with optional filters.
List Estimate TemplatesTool to retrieve a list of estimate templates.
List Expense CommentsTool to retrieve history and comments for a specific expense.
List ExpensesTool to retrieve a paginated list of expenses with filters and search.
List Fixed AssetsTool to retrieve a paginated list of fixed assets from Zoho Books.
List Fixed Asset TypesTool to retrieve a paginated list of fixed asset types from Zoho Books.
List Invoice Comments and HistoryTool to list comments and history entries for an invoice.
List Invoice Credits AppliedTool to list credit notes applied to an invoice.
List Invoice PaymentsTool to list payments recorded against an invoice.
List InvoicesTool to retrieve a paginated list of invoices with filters and search.
List Invoice TemplatesTool to retrieve a list of invoice templates.
List Item DetailsTool to bulk fetch details for multiple items from Zoho Books using their IDs.
List ItemsTool to retrieve a paginated list of items from Zoho Books.
List Journal TemplatesTool to list journal templates with pagination.
List LocationsTool to list all locations in the organization.
List OrganizationsTool to list all organizations for the authenticated user.
List ProjectsTool to retrieve a paginated list of projects with optional filters.
List Project UsersTool to retrieve all users assigned to a project.
List Purchase OrdersTool to retrieve a paginated list of purchase orders.
List Recurring Bill HistoryTool to list comments and history entries for a recurring bill.
List Recurring Invoice HistoryTool to retrieve comments and history for a specific recurring invoice.
List Reporting TagsTool to retrieve all reporting tags from Zoho Books.
List Retainer InvoicesTool to retrieve a paginated list of retainer invoices with filters and sorting.
List Sales Order Comments & HistoryTool to list comments and history entries for a sales order.
List Sales OrdersTool to retrieve a paginated list of sales orders.
List Sales ReceiptsTool to retrieve a paginated list of sales receipts with filters.
List TasksTool to retrieve a paginated list of tasks for a specific project.
List TaxesTool to retrieve a paginated list of taxes.
List Tax ExemptionsTool to retrieve a list of tax exemptions from Zoho Books.
List UsersTool to retrieve a paginated list of users.
List Vendor Credit RefundsTool to retrieve a paginated list of vendor credit refunds with filters.
List Vendor Credit RefundsTool to list refunds of a specific vendor credit.
List Vendor CreditsTool to retrieve a paginated list of vendor credits with filters and search.
List Vendor Payment RefundsTool to list refunds of a vendor payment.
List Vendor PaymentsTool to retrieve a paginated list of vendor payments with filters and search.
Mark Bill OpenTool to mark a bill as open.
Mark Bill VoidTool to mark a bill as Void.
Mark Contact as ActiveTool to mark a contact as active.
Mark Contact as InactiveTool to mark a contact as inactive.
Mark Estimate As SentTool to mark an estimate as Sent.
Mark Invoice As SentTool to mark an invoice as Sent.
Mark Item as ActiveTool to mark an item as active.
Mark Item as InactiveTool to mark an item as inactive.
Mark Location ActiveTool to mark a location as active.
Mark Location as InactiveTool to mark a location as inactive.
Mark Location PrimaryTool to mark a location as primary.
Mark Project ActiveTool to mark a project as active.
Mark Reporting Tag as ActiveTool to mark a reporting tag as active.
Mark Reporting Tag as InactiveTool to mark a reporting tag as inactive.
Mark Reporting Tag Default OptionTool to mark an option as default for a reporting tag.
Mark Retainer Invoice SentTool to mark a retainer invoice as Sent.
Mark Sales Order VoidTool to mark a sales order as Void.
Mark Tag Option ActiveTool to mark a reporting tag option as active.
Mark Tag Option as InactiveTool to mark a reporting tag option as inactive.
Mark User as InactiveTool to mark a user as inactive in Zoho Books.
Mark Vendor Credit VoidTool to void a vendor credit.
Open Sales OrderTool to mark a sales order as Open.
Bulk Print EstimatesTool to bulk print up to 25 estimates as a single PDF.
Bulk Print Sales OrdersTool to bulk print up to 25 sales orders as a single PDF.
Send Payment ReminderTool to send a payment reminder for an invoice.
Resume Recurring InvoiceTool to resume a recurring invoice.
Send Bulk Invoice ReminderTool to send payment reminders for multiple invoices at once.
Send Contact EmailTool to send an email to a contact in Zoho Books.
Stop Recurring InvoiceTool to stop a recurring invoice.
Untrack Contact 1099Tool to untrack a contact for 1099 reporting.
Update Bank TransactionTool to update an existing bank transaction in Zoho Books.
Update Vendor BillTool to update a vendor bill.
Update ContactTool to update details of a contact.
Update Contact PersonTool to update an existing contact person in Zoho Books.
Update Credit Note RefundTool to update details of a specific credit note refund.
Update CurrencyTool to update an existing currency in Zoho Books.
Update Custom Fields in ItemTool to update custom field values in an existing item.
Update EstimateTool to update an existing estimate (quote).
Update Estimate Billing AddressTool to update the billing address of an estimate.
Update Estimate Shipping AddressTool to update the shipping address for an estimate.
Update Estimate TemplateTool to update the template associated with an estimate.
Update InvoiceTool to update details of a specific invoice.
Update Invoice Attachment PreferenceTool to update attachment preference for an invoice.
Update Invoice Billing AddressTool to update the billing address of an invoice.
Update Invoice Shipping AddressTool to update the shipping address of a specific invoice.
Update Invoice TemplateTool to update the template associated with an invoice.
Update ItemTool to update details of a specific item.
Update JournalTool to update a journal entry in Zoho Books.
Update LocationTool to update an existing location in Zoho Books.
Update OrganizationTool to update an organization's settings and details.
Update ProjectTool to update a project in Zoho Books.
Update Project UserTool to update a user's details in a project.
Update Purchase Order Billing AddressTool to update the billing address of a purchase order.
Update Purchase Order CommentTool to update a comment on a purchase order.
Update Recurring BillTool to update a recurring bill in Zoho Books.
Update Recurring Invoice TemplateTool to update the template associated with a recurring invoice.
Update Reporting TagTool to update an existing reporting tag in Zoho Books.
Update Reporting Tag OptionsTool to update reporting tag options in Zoho Books.
Update Sales OrderTool to update a specific sales order.
Update Sales Order Attachment PreferenceTool to update attachment preference for a sales order.
Update Sales Order Billing AddressTool to update the billing address of a sales order.
Update Sales Order Shipping AddressTool to update the shipping address of a specific sales order.
Update Sales Order TemplateTool to update the template associated with a sales order.
Update UserTool to update an existing user in Zoho Books.
Update Vendor Payment RefundTool to update a vendor payment refund in Zoho Books.
Void InvoiceTool to mark an invoice as Void.
Write Off InvoiceTool to write off an invoice.

Universal CLI Commands for Zoho books

You can also manually execute CLI commands to interact with your Zoho books.

Connect your Zoho books account

Link your Zoho books account and verify the connection:

bash
# Connect your Zoho books account (opens OAuth flow)
composio connected-accounts link zoho_books

# Verify the connection
composio connected-accounts list --toolkits zoho_books

Discover Zoho books tools

Search and inspect available Zoho books tools:

bash
# List all available Zoho books tools
composio tools list --toolkit zoho_books

# Search for Zoho books tools by action
composio tools search "zoho books"

# Inspect a tool's input schema
composio tools info ZOHO_BOOKS_TOOL_NAME

Common Zoho books Actions

Accept EstimateTool to mark an estimate as accepted

bash
composio tools execute ZOHO_BOOKS_ACCEPT_ESTIMATE

Activate Bank AccountTool to activate a bank account

bash
composio tools execute ZOHO_BOOKS_ACTIVATE_BANK_ACCOUNT

Add Bill AttachmentTool to add an attachment to an existing bill in Zoho Books

bash
composio tools execute ZOHO_BOOKS_ADD_BILL_ATTACHMENT

Add Bill CommentTool to add a comment to a bill in Zoho Books

bash
composio tools execute ZOHO_BOOKS_ADD_BILL_COMMENT

Generate Type Definitions

Generate typed schemas for Zoho books tools to get autocomplete and type safety in your project:

bash
# Auto-detect language
composio generate --toolkits zoho_books

# TypeScript
composio ts generate --toolkits zoho_books

# Python
composio py generate --toolkits zoho_books

Tips & Tricks

  • Always inspect a tool's input schema before executing: composio tools info <TOOL_NAME>
  • Pipe output with jq for better readability: composio tools execute TOOL_NAME -d '{}' | jq
  • Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY as an environment variable for CI/CD pipelines
  • Use composio dev logs tools to inspect execution logs and debug issues

Next Steps

  • Try asking your coding agent to perform various Zoho books operations
  • Explore cross-app workflows by connecting more toolkits
  • Set up triggers for real-time automation
  • Use composio generate for typed schemas in your projects

How to build Zoho books MCP Agent with another framework

FAQ

What is the Composio Universal CLI?

The Composio Universal CLI is a single command-line interface that lets coding agents and developers interact with 1000+ SaaS applications. It handles authentication, tool discovery, action execution, and trigger setup — all from the terminal, without needing to configure MCP servers.

Which coding agents work with the Composio CLI?

Any coding agent that can run shell commands works with the Composio CLI — including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, and others. Once the CLI is installed, agents automatically discover and use the composio commands to interact with Zoho books and other connected apps.

How is the CLI different from using an MCP server for Zoho books?

MCP servers require configuration and can be token-heavy for complex workflows. The CLI gives agents a direct, lightweight interface — no server setup needed. Agents simply call composio commands like any other shell tool. It's faster to set up, more reliable for multi-step tool chaining, and works natively with how coding agents already operate.

How safe is my Zoho books data when using the Composio CLI?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Zoho books data and credentials are handled as safely as possible. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials for full control.

Used by agents from

Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai

Never worry about agent reliability

We handle tool reliability, observability, and security so you never have to second-guess an agent action.